Backing tracks for improvisation
Slow blues shuffle (Am pentatonic)
"Jack" riff (Am pentatonic)
"Strutting" vamp (Cm pentatonic)
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"Thrilling" Bm blues (Bm pentatonic)
"Crawling" medium-tempo E blues (Em pentatonic)
Slow blues shuffle (Em pentatonic)
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All backing tracks by Mark Baxter (c) 2013
List of good blues/rock jam tunes
- Hit the road Jack/Stray cat strut riff - Ray Charles/Stray Cats
- Sweet home Chicago - Robert Johnson, Blues Brothers
- Sweet home Alabama - Lynard Skynard
- Cissy strut - The Meters, John Mayer, John Schofield
- Stormy Monday - T-bone Walker, Allman Brothers
- Various blues, different keys (often E, G, A, B, C or D), shuffled or straight, fast or slow.
- Stand by me - Ben E King
- House of the rising sun - Animals, Bob Dylan
- All along the watchtower - Dylan, Hendrix
- Sunshine of your love - Cream
- Hey Joe - Hendrix
- Cocaine - J.J. Cale, Eric Clapton
- Gloria - Van Morrison, Doors
- The thrill is gone - BB King
- The beat goes on riff - Sonny and Cher
- Peter Gunn riff - Henry Manchini
- I'm a man - Muddy Waters
- Six-blade knife - Dire Staits
- Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
- Back-door man - The Doors
- The last time - The Rolling Stones
- I shot the sheriff - Bob Marley, Eric Clapton
- Superstition - Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughn
- Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
- Honky-tonk woman - Rolling Stones
- Can't always get what you want - Rolling Stones
- Hard to handle - Otis Redding, Black Crowes
- Chevrolet - Taj Mahal, Derek Trucks
- Crossroads - Robert Johnson, Cream
- Ayo technology - Milow
- People get ready - Curtis Mayfield, Rod Stewart/Jeff Beck, Bruce Springsteen
- Black magic woman - Fleetwood Mac, Santana
- Mustang Sally - The Commitments
- Jammin' - Bob Marley
- Roadhouse blues - The Doors
- Ain't no sunshine - Bill Withers
- Folsom prison - Johnny Cash
- Strange Brew - Cream
- Free Falling - Tom Petty, John Mayer
What makes a good rock or blues jam session tune??
- A short, repetitive chord progression or riff, or a basic verse chorus structure. (So it's easy for the other musicians at a jam session to quickly learn and remember)
- A single pentatonic scale sounds good when used over the entire progression. (So it is easy to solo over)